When you work with electronic page layouts, you use certain elements over and over. Rather than copying and pasting the frames from one part of the document to another, you can use InDesign’s libraries or snippets to hold the elements you use repeatedly. Sandee Cohen shows you how.

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Back when I worked in advertising, I noticed that the art directors would stick little bits and pieces of type and logos on
their mechanical board, drafting table, lamp, and wall. This made it easy to grab an often-used logo or piece of art.

Similarly, when you work with electronic page layouts, you use certain elements over and over. For instance, if you’re working
on a magazine, you might want to have a series of different-sized frames to hold frequently used ads.

Rather than copying and pasting the frames from one part of the document to another, you can use InDesign’s libraries or snippets
to hold the elements you use repeatedly.

Then, when you need to use an item from the library or the saved snippet file, you can simply drag it onto the page.

Storing Items in a Library

A library allows you to store elements, such as text frames, images, or empty frames. When elements are in a library, they
can be dragged easily into open documents. Libraries are especially useful when you need to use the same element in many different
places.

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Libraries appear as panels that float above the open InDesign documents. Libraries are available to use with any InDesign
document.

Multiple objects are always entered as a single library item. If you want individual objects, you need to select and add them
to the library one by one.

You can also add all the items on the current page to a library.

To add a page to a library:

With a library open, move to the page you want to add to the library.

Choose Add Items on Page [number] from the Library panel submenu.

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The Add Items on Page [number] command automatically labels the entry as a single page in the library Item Information dialog
box.

Instead of the Add Items on Page [number] command, you may want to add all the items on a page as individual library entries.
Instead of dragging them one by one into the Library panel, you can add the items as separate elements.

To add all the items on a page separately:

With a library open, move to the page that contains all the items that you want to add to the library.

To delete items from a library:

A dialog box appears asking for confirmation that you want to delete the items. Click Yes.

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Hold the Opt/Alt key to bypass the dialog box when you delete a library item.

Strategies for Using Libraries

Libraries can be used in many different ways. I use a library to store items that I use often in a document.

For instance, I have one library labeled IDCS3VQS for this Visual QuickStart book. One of the elements is a graphic frame
with a text frame underneath. I drag that out for the illustrations and captions.

Other elements are the empty circles, lines, and curved arrows I use to point to elements in the figures.

Another element is a gray text frame with a stroke around it. I drag it out when I write sidebars such as this.